Communication is the debut solo album by
ex-Kraftwerk member Karl Bartos. Originally released in 2003  13
years after leaving the legendary electronic group  it has now
been entirely and pristinely re-mastered for re-release, complete
with the bonus track »Camera Obscura«  a song that eschews the
term bonus and in the context of the re-release becomes
essential. The album is a concept record that deals with
communication at the incredibly pivotal time in electronic media
and digital culture, shortly after the turn of the millennium.

Communication is about the way images shape
our view of the world and how electronic media is going to change
the contents of our culture. (Karl Bartos, 2003)

However, such was the sense of foresight and
depth of thought that Bartos applied to the world of communication
in a vastly-shifting aeon that this theme remains as relevant as
ever in 2016. The world of media described and envisioned back then
has now simply become a day-to-day reality. Communication is a
definitive piece of work that continues to resonate even in the
present day, which alone would be enough to justify its re-release
but there is another reason.

The Lost Album

Fate or just bad luck? The fact is, Bartos'
former Kraftwerk colleagues also released an album in 2003, their
first after a ten-year break and since Bartos left the band. The
media predictably focused their attention on Kraftwerks Tour de
France Soundtracks and it certainly didn't help that Bartos was a
co-author on the Kraftwerk classic, and album defining, »Tour de
France«. This is hardly surprising giving that Bartos was also the
co-author of such genre-changing electronic hits as »The Model«,
»The Robots«, »Numbers« and »Pocket Calculator«  these are just a
few songs that were created during his time in the classic line-up
from 1975 to 1990, arguably Kraftwerks most fertile and pioneering
period. Even today, people still refer to him as the second from
the left, referring to his role and placement as the melody-maker
of significant Kraftwerk albums such as The Man-Machine (1978) and
Computerworld (1981).

Personnel changes and cost-cutting measures at
his record label, Sony, only further hindered the promotion of
Bartos album. Overall, rotten timing, and luck  combined with a
collapsing music industry trapped in a spin, having no idea how to
deal with the digital revolution it was fast approaching  were
major factors in stopping the record from receiving the momentum
and backing it required, and deserved. It was so overshadowed that
Communication is often self-deprecatingly referred to as his Lost
Album.

Bartos produced Communication with sound
engineer Mathias Black at his home studio in Hamburg between August
2002 and January 2003, but the album's concept had already been
developing in the mind of Bartos since the turn of the new
millennium. The album captures his reaction to the all-encompassing
influence of digital media on society, cultural awareness and
communication, the very basis of contemporary human existence.

Prior to releasing Communication Bartos was a
busy man. Under the moniker Electric Music, he released the albums
Esperanto (1993) and Electric Music (1998). With Bernard Sumner
(New Order) and Johnny Marr (formerly of The Smiths), he composed
the second album by Electronic, Raise the Pressure (1996). He also
wrote songs for, and with, Andy McCluskey (OMD) and worked
internationally as a producer.

Communication
reloaded

Originally released in 2000, the programmatic
track »15 Minutes of Fame«was the first single Bartos released and
was an exciting peek into the world that was his upcoming full
album. Inspired by Andy Warhols statement, In the future,
everybody will be world famous for 15 minutes, Bartos used this as
a template to comment on the increasing rise of celebrity
culture unleashed by casting shows, reality TV programs, cooking
contests etc. As Warhol had predicted and Bartos also tapped into,
anyone could, and was becoming, famous, whether it was through
singing, dancing, cooking, losing weight or surviving in a fake
jungle. Things reached a stage in which there was no difference
anymore, whether it's Princess Diana or some C-list celebrity that
the paparazzi is chasing, it's all about grabbing that photo.
Communication takes this theme and societal observations further by
focusing them through multiple aspects, of what Bartos calls our
new media reality.

»Im the Message« is the Corporate Identity
song for Bartos audiovisual live show. Bartos work should be
received and understood in this way too, as it is an amalgamation,
and presentation, of both sound and vision. A heavy force in both
the world of music and film, Karl Bartos has been presenting his
live show, which includes his own self-directed films, on an
international scale since 2000.

Exclusively for the release of Communication,
Bartos developed a pictographic visual language that the
Hamburg-based agency, Weissraum, then further adapted for a variety
of formats. Pictograms were the best fit for Bartos' idea of
graphic visualisation since they impart information through simple
symbols. Weissraum also directed the pictographic animated video
for »I'm The Message«. The agency subsequently garnered numerous
international awards for their design and communication work.

Just like with »I'm The Message«, the track
»Interview« is also dedicated to celebrity culture, however this
time expressed through a randomized Dada text as though zapping
between TV channels.

»Cyberspace« and »Electronic Apeman« deal with
electronic media, expressed and depicted using an almost romantic
musical language. »The Camera«, »Another Reality«and
»Ultraviolet« comment on the influence and impact of photographs
and movies within mass media.

Looking back, but forwards

Communication isnt simply just a re-release.
It is the reloading of an overlooked electro-pop classic that is
arguably more topically relevant today than when it was first
released, such was the foresight displayed some thirteen years ago.
Most impressively however, is that this re-release comes without
any loss of musical power, and Bartos sense of joy in making the
music is still palpable. Fittingly, the audience reactions at his
recent shows have mirrored this, having been met with intense
enthusiasm.

A further reason why Communication is more
than just a re-release is because the album documents and proves
that Bartos has created his own musical language ahead of, and
independent to, the cultural zeitgeist or anything resembling a
fleeting fashion. Even though it was released ten years prior,
Communication also connects seamlessly to Bartos latest and
critically acclaimed album, Off The Record (2013). Simply put:
Communication is the reintroduction of timeless statement.

It is not the business of music to be
fashionable. The meaning of music is to bring people together.
(Karl Bartos, 2016)